What happened to Marilyn Monroe’s mother Gladys Pearl Baker? Blonde story explained (2024)

Andrew Dominik's new film Blonde has just been released on Netflix, offering a fictionalised account of the life of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.

Given that the film mixes fact and fiction, many viewers will likely be wondering just how accurate certain aspects of the film are, from the scenes involving John F Kennedy to Monroe's lack of a father figure.

Another key aspect of the film concerns the relationship between Monroe and her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker, and audiences might also want to know just how accurately their real relationship is portrayed.

Read on for everything you need to know.

What happened to Marilyn Monroe's mum?

In the film, Monroe's early childhood is depicted as a very turbulent affair – not least because of a difficult relationship with her mother Gladys, played by Julianne Nicholson.

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The historical record suggests that it is true Gladys struggled with motherhood, owing both to financial struggles and mental health difficulties – although there is no evidence to back up the scene in the film in which she tries to drown Monroe in the bath.

In her early life, Monroe was put in the care of foster parents. During this time, her mother regularly visited her and, according to J Randy Taraborrelli's biography The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, on one occasion she even attempted to smuggle her back home.

The pair did go on to live together again briefly, but Gladys was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in January 1934 and was eventually committed to the Metropolitan State Hospital a few months later, with Monroe then moving between foster parents and orphanages for the rest of her childhood.

They did briefly live together again in 1946, during which time Gladys was reportedly not happy with Monroe's decision to become an actress, but she then she left to marry a man named John Stewart Eley - who already had a wife and family.

It was at this time that Monroe – on advice from studio executives – claimed that both her parents were dead, although she was later forced to backtrack when it was proven that Gladys was still very much alive in 1952.

For the remainder of her life, Gladys was in and out of hospitals and contact with her daughter was fairly limited, although Monroe did attempt to reconcile with her.

According to the aforementioned Taraborrelli book, the last encounter between the pair was in the summer of 1962 when Monroe pleaded with her mother to take her medication – something she had been refusing to do.

Gladys eventually died of heart failure in 1984 at the age of 82, managing to spend her final years away from psychiatric homes.

• Read more: How to watch new Marilyn Monroe drama Blonde
• Read more: Did Blonde's Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy story actually happen?
• Read more: Blonde review: A brutal but beautiful look at Marilyn Monroe

Blonde is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can listen to the soundtrack on Amazon Music. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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